A Treatise on the Words that Noah Uttered When He Awoke from His Wine, or On Sobriety.

 I. (1) Having examined in the preceding treatise what has been said by the lawgiver about wine and the nakedness which attends upon it, we will now be

 II. (6) Such then is the condition of the sober man but when Moses speaks of Noah's younger son, he is not so much meaning to make a statement resp

 III. (10) And again in his great song he calls the whole people, when it is smitten with a desire of innovation by the name suited to foolish and infa

 IV. (16) It has therefore been proved, that in many passages Moses is in the habit of calling a person young, having regard not to the age of the body

 V. (21) Therefore, the scripture is seen to prove each particular of what I have said more plainly to those who have taught themselves to obey one inj

 VI. (26) The prophet, then, in accordance with this law, and as it were shooting his arrows with happy aim at the appointed mark, in strict agreement

 VII. (31) We must now then consider whom the wise man here curses for this is one of the matters especially deserving of investigation, since he curs

 VIII. (34) A stationary position and motion differ from one another for the one is a state of tranquillity, but motion is impetuosity, of which last

 IX. (38) Therefore, the same assertion applies to those who live according to folly, and also to all those who live in accordance with virtue or vice.

 X. (44) Why then have I said these things, except with the object of teaching that Ham the son of Noah, is the name of wickedness in a state of inacti

 XI. (51) These things then, I imagine, have now been sufficiently discussed. Let us now examine the affair of the curses, and see what the case is wit

 XIII. (59) This, then, is the prayer which Noah offers for Shem let us now see what kind of prayer it is that he puts forth for Japhet. He says, May

 XIII. (62) Thus much we may say concerning breadth. We must now consider who it is who Noah prays may dwell in the tents of Shem, for he does not say

V. (21) Therefore, the scripture is seen to prove each particular of what I have said more plainly to those who have taught themselves to obey one injunction of the law. "For if," says the scripture, "a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and if she who is beloved bears him a child, and also she who is hated, and if the child of the wife who is hated be the first born, then, on the day on which he bestows on his sons the inheritance of his substance, he shall not be able to give the share of the first born to the son of her who is beloved, overlooking his real first born son, the child of her who is hated; but he must recognize the son of her who is hated as his first born, to give him a double share of all the possessions that belong to him, because he is the beginning of his children, and the rights of the first born belong to Him."[De 21:15.] (22) You observe here now that he never calls the son of the wife that is beloved the first born or the elder, but he often gives this title to the son of her who is hated; and yet he has already pointed out that the son of her who is beloved was in point of time the first, and the son of her who is hated the last, at the very beginning of this injunction; for he says, "If the beloved wife and she who is hated both bear children." But nevertheless the offspring of the first mentioned, even though it may be considerably earlier in point of time is looked upon as younger by right reason when it comes to decide between them. But the offspring of her who is spoken of in the second place, even though it may come after as to the time of its birth, is thought worthy of the more important and elder share. (23) Why so? because we say that she who is beloved is the symbol of pleasure, and she who is hated is the emblem of prudence. For the chief multitude of men love the company of the one to excess, inasmuch as she, from her own treasures, profers them most seductive charms and allurements, from the very first moment of their birth to the extremity of old age; but of the other they detest excessively the austere and very dignified look, just as silly children dislike the profitable but unpleasant reproofs of their parents and guardians. (24) And both the wives become mothers: the one bringing forth that disposition in the soul which loves pleasures, and the other that which loves virtue; but the lover of pleasure is imperfect, and in reality is always a child, even if he reaches a vast age of many years. But, on the other hand, the lover of virtue, though he is in old age as to his wisdom, while still in his swaddling clothes, as the proverb has it, will never grow old. (25) In reference to which Moses says very emphatically with respect to the son of virtue, which is hated by the generality of men, that "he is the beginning of his children," being, forsooth, the first both in order and precedency. And to him belong the rights of the first-born by the law of nature, and not by the lawless principle existing among men.